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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27273808">Fall Fortunes 2: Hardly Ever</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/theianitor/pseuds/theianitor'>theianitor</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Fall Fortunes [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Formula 1 RPF, Motorcycling RPF</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe, Autumn, F/F, Food, Fortune Telling, M/M, Runes, Siblings, Tarot, skeptical characters</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-07 03:14:43</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>6,580</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27273808</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/theianitor/pseuds/theianitor</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>The Harvest Fair is back! George, Lando, and Alex are all skeptical of fortune telling, but could all use a bit of guidance. Alex feels a bit lonely. George is concerned for Lando. And Kimi plain refuses to go near the fortune tellers.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Alexander Albon/Alex Marquez (mentioned), Jenson Button/Nico Rosberg, Kimi Räikkönen/Sebastian Vettel, Lando Norris/George Russell, Vivian Sibold/Minttu Virtanen</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Fall Fortunes [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1991395</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Fall</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Fall Fortunes 2: Hardly Ever</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Yay, sequels! XD It was good fun to write this, I'm getting used to the new lads bit by bit. I love my lady fortune tellers, and the Harvest fair seems a nice place...<br/>A great many thanks to all participants in the Fall or Fear collection this year - you guys are awesome. &lt;3</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“One please.”</p><p>Lando stood aside as the man behind him took out his wallet and paid for a little brown paper bag, full to the brim of toasted, sugary almonds. He had been looking on as the woman used a big wooden ladle to stir the almonds in the large cooking vat, set over an open flame and spreading a delicious smell of nuts and warm sugar far and wide. The almonds looked delicious.</p><p>But his wallet said no. He was on a budget that was getting tighter by the day just from having to buy food, and the prospect of having to move back home was definitely not fun. With no job and his grades slipping from the stress though, he didn’t see a lot of other options. Rather than continuing to torture himself with the scent, he started walking down the lane of stalls.</p><p>It was a crisp, beautiful day. Fall had blown in, rainy and heavy, but in the last week the skies had cleared and given way to chilly mornings and hopeful sunshine. The weather was perfect for the Harvest fair, and Lando had really been looking forward to it. He loved the fair; the stands, the candy, the bright colors, the candy apples, the parade, toasted almonds – Lando liked all things fall, but not like <em>this</em>.</p><p>Maybe it was just the season putting him in a bit of a funk, he thought. He and George had gotten together earlier in the year, and the spring and summer had been kind of a whirlwind, warm and fun and full of new love. He was still sure he was in love. But with the change of the season it felt like everything had gone a bit colder.</p><p>George had a good job, working with a stationery store close to campus, and Lando had expertly dodged the question of work for ages now. He didn’t want George to start paying for stuff, like he knew he would.</p><p>“Oh, excuse me,” a soft voice said right next to him, making him jump. He’d wandered along without looking and walked right outside a tent made of white cloth, and almost walked into the lady who was coming out, making her drop several little cloth pouches she’d been carrying.</p><p>“Sorry!” he said quickly, crouching down to help her pick them up. He hoped there was nothing valuable inside.</p><p>The lady was dressed in a long, white dress and had blonde, very straight hair. He thought the light colors ought to leave her looking washed out, but it somehow suited her and made her look all the more vivid against all the fall colors around them, and her smile was very honest.</p><p>“Tell you what,” she said with a wink. “Let me read your fortune, and we’ll call it even?”</p><p>He looked up. There was a small, cloth sign on the side of the tent, which read “Tarot Readings”</p><p>“Eh, no, thank you,” Lando said, making his best apologetic face. “I can’t... eh...”</p><p>“Come on,” she said, stopping him from having to explain that he didn’t have any money. “I could use the practice.”</p><p>He wasn’t exactly sure how it happened, but a few seconds later, he found himself inside the tent, looking around with wide eyes.</p><p> </p><p>It was surprisingly bright inside, and there was some kind of coarse fabric covering the street below. The walls did a good job muffling the sounds from outside, and the whole room smelled nice, kind of like gingerbread. There were garlands of red and yellow leaves hung from the sides and up toward the middle of the tent, and a couple of lanterns were lit despite the white cloth letting in a fair bit of sunlight.</p><p>“I’m Vivian,” she said, moving to the side of the room and striking a match to light a gold-colored candle set in a lantern. “Please, have a seat.”</p><p>There was a single chair in front of a little table, and Lando sat down and looked at the tablecloth. It was white too, and richly embroidered with gold threads running this way and that. There were moons and stars, a figure he thought was one of the constellations, and in the middle of the table there were several large rectangles embroidered in.</p><p>“Have you ever had a tarot reading before?” she asked, taking out a deck of cards and starting to shuffle it. The cards were bigger than normal playing cards and there were some kind of pictures on them. She looked up at Lando.</p><p>Lando was willing to bet she was doing the quick check: young man, no wedding ring to be seen, probably not working very good job yet, maybe still living with the parents... his smile faltered and he did his best to not get on that train of thought.</p><p>“No,” he said instead, shaking his head. “If you tell me I’m gonna have loads of kids and win the lottery, I think I’ll just leave.” It felt good to joke, especially when Vivian granted him a tinkling laugh.</p><p>“What, you don’t want to win the lottery?”</p><p>Lando laughed too. At least now they both knew where they stood, he thought.</p><p>Suddenly, Vivian paused her shuffling.</p><p>“Hm,” she said, narrowing her eyes. She put the cards down, and looked at the deck.</p><p>“Excuse me.”</p><p>She got up from the table and took the cards with her to a little cabinet at the side of the tent. There were a few books in it, a bowl of what looked like hazelnuts, and a couple of small cardboard boxes. She took a dark blue one out, weighing it in her hands. Then she put it back in favor of a green one.</p><p>“That’s better,” she said with a smile, taking the cards out. These cards were a dark, forest green on the back, with thin, shiny, copper-colored lines. When Vivian had finished shuffling, she put the deck on the table and made an inviting gesture.</p><p>“Cut the cards, please.”</p><p>“What? I-...” Lando suddenly felt very warm in his jacket. “... okay?” he said, trying to return Vivian’s smile. Now that he saw them up close, Lando could see the coppery pattern on the card was in the shape of little leaves.</p><p>“Split the deck into three piles, and then put it back together again.”</p><p>Lando did as he was told. The cards felt thick and solid, which somehow made them feel more real and at the same time, a bit more magic.</p><p>Not that they were magic.</p><p>There was no such thing.</p><p>When he’d made one pile of the cards again, Vivian spread them all in a straight line.</p><p>“Pick three, please, and put them here.” She pointed to three of the embroidered rectangles on her tablecloth. It was obviously a guide for where the cards went.</p><p>He looked at the cards carefully for a while, and then felt a little silly. It didn’t matter. He picked one close to the middle, and put it in the leftmost open space. Then he picked one further down the left and put it in the middle, and then he slid the very last card on his right into the right space. Vivian gathered the other cards up and put them aside. Then she looked at him again.</p><p>“Past,” she said, pointing to the left card. “Present, future.”</p><p>She went to pick up the first card. “This represents you.”</p><p>When she turned it over, Lando couldn’t suppress a snicker. Rather than look offended however, Vivian was smiling brightly and looking at the card fondly.</p><p>It was a squirrel.</p><p>It was a fat squirrel, standing in what looked like a ploughed field, his thick tail pluming up behind him and a big, golden coin in his outstretched paw. He was looking at the coin as if considering it. There were houses in the distance behind him, and he was wearing an orange, squishy-looking hat with a big, white feather in it.</p><p>“The Page of Pentacles,” Vivian said. “You’re a student, trying to figure out how to turn a little bit of gold into a whole lot more.” She pointed to the coin. “You’re willing to move away from home, and put in lots of work, and you’re hoping it will lead to a good harvest.”</p><p>Lando found himself nodding thoughtfully before his brain caught up. So that was what her checking him out had led her to believe. It wasn’t unreasonable; there was a university in town, most guys his age must be students, many far away from home. Suddenly the guesses didn’t even seem that good.</p><p>The squirrel was quite cute though, and some innocent, free fun was all good.</p><p>“Now for the present,” Vivian said, turning the middle card over.</p><p>Her eyebrows drew closer together and her smile fell away.</p><p>“Oh,” she said. She looked up at Lando, and back to the card.</p><p>It was too more squirrels, tails out and one leg raised, their paws joined. It looked a little bit like they were dancing. There were four wooden rods holding up a little canopy of bright green leaves above them.</p><p>“What?” Lando asked.</p><p>“It’s reversed,” Vivian said. She looked... sad? “It’s upside down.”</p><p>“Is that bad?”</p><p>“Yes. This isn’t a happy card.”</p><p>“But... they’re dancing,” Lando tried. He didn’t want unhappy cards. He knew about tarot cards, of course, he knew there was a card for death and one for the devil, he’d seen those in enough horror movies. But this was two squirrels dancing. And the fortune telling was just for fun, he reminded himself. It was all an act.</p><p>“So, this is the four of Wands,” Vivian started, pointing to the four wooden rods. “Reversed sort of means the card means the opposite of its normal meaning.”</p><p>Lando nodded.</p><p>“This means there’s trouble in your life right now, and...” she looked up as if she’d caught herself about to say something inappropriate. “Excuse me.” She said, bowing her head for a second.</p><p>“Like you said, they’re dancing. So I think you and your partner are doing okay. The trouble is with something else in your life, like this house behind them. Close family, or your home, or both. You are worried about committing because your home isn’t a good place.”</p><p>Lando felt trapped. He looked down at his hands.</p><p>“It’s nothing,” he said. The dancing squirrels seemed to be mocking him now and his voice sounded hollow.</p><p>“I’m sorry,” Vivian said with a shake in her voice.</p><p>“It’s nothing,” Lando repeated. It wasn’t <em>nothing</em>, but he didn’t want to give her the pleasure of knowing how close she’d come to the truth. They were both quiet for a moment, and when Lando finally looked up from his hands, Vivian was looking at him concerned.</p><p>“Well,” she said bracingly, “the first thing you noticed was the couple dancing, and that makes me think this is something that can be fixed. So let’s see what the future holds?”</p><p>“Sure.” He hated that it came out as a sigh. The fortune teller had a commiserative look in her eye as she turned the last card over. Lando looked up carefully.</p><p><em>“Well,”</em> he thought, <em>“at least it’s the right way up.”</em></p><p>It was another squirrel, standing in a golden, ancient Roman-style chariot. His arm was raised and in the other paw, he held the reins to two winged mice, which were obviously pulling the chariot along. One was white, the other was black.</p><p>“Hm,” Vivian said, and she looked quite pleased, nodding at the card.</p><p>Lando kept noticing little details on the card the more he looked; the mice both had a dot on their forehead, the white one had a black dot, the black mouse had a white dot. They also looked like they were rearing a little, mouths open, working hard. And the squirrel in the chariot didn’t just have his hand raised, it was raised in triumph. It was quite an action-packed card.</p><p>“If I asked you what this card feels like, Lando, what would you say?”</p><p>“Movement,” Lando said without thinking. “Eh, I mean...”</p><p>“Movement is good,” she nodded. “Your first thought is honest. It does stand for movement, but it is movement with a purpose. You have to control the movement, pick a direction and go for it. The first card,” she pointed back to the squirrel in the field, “says you’re not afraid to do the work. So if you put in the work and take control, it...” She took a deep breath and it sounded a lot like a sigh of relief.</p><p>“Then everything will work out. You just need some order, you know? Hard to get things done when there are a lot of things going on.”</p><p>“Right,” Lando said. He looked at the cards one after another. He wasn’t afraid of hard work, he just needed a job right now. The dancing squirrels, well... maybe they could help each other out, he suddenly thought, if the house was the problem. Getting some order in your life didn’t sound like a bad thing at all.</p><p>He wasn’t exactly sure how, but soon enough he found himself standing out in the street again, having said goodbye and thanks to Vivian.</p><p>He checked his watch. George would be here in about half an hour if the bus was on time. It suddenly felt like a countdown to something important, and he wanted to get him <em>something</em> nice. He hurried off down the lane of stalls.</p><p> </p><p>--</p><p> </p><p>“What, are you <em>scared?</em>”</p><p>Alex laughed but the comment was a bit too cutting to really be funny. Handling Max on his own was one thing, not a huge issue. He’d grown up doing it. But when Max and his friend Charles teamed up, it tended to get a bit <em>much</em>. It had been so nice staying at campus, but it was inevitable to run in to his older brother at the Harvest fair.</p><p>“I’m not scared,” he tried, hating that it came out sounding like the opposite, “it’s not real anyway.”</p><p>“If it is not real, then why are you scared?” Charles asked with a smug look on his face.</p><p>Alex sighed. This wouldn’t go away and he knew it.</p><p>He liked the fair, normally. It was a bit cold this year, so he was almost in his winter clothes already, scarf and hat and the lot of it, but he liked it. He loved the colors and how it felt like a natural part of fall, all the Halloween-themed stuff as well as the autumn decorations. A stall of nice-smelling bundles had already caught his eye, and he was fully intending to buy one tied with cinnamon sticks and some herb he didn’t recognize for his room.</p><p>It was just <em>this</em> part he didn’t like.</p><p>“Alright, if you pay, I’ll go,” he said, nodding at the black tent. They’d been standing by it since Max had caught sight of the sign advertising fortune telling inside.</p><p>“Done,” Max said, grinning broadly and taking his wallet out of his pocket.</p><p> </p><p>“Hello?” Max called as soon as they entered the tent. It was quite dark inside, lit only by two oil lamps and a few candles set in hanging lanterns. Alex looked around, feeling his stomach sinking; he didn’t like being spooked, and this looked a bit like the haunted house version of a fortune teller’s. It smelled like those little shops where people went to buy crystals and incense.</p><p>“Have you all come to get your fortunes told?”</p><p>The voice made Alex jump, and he heard Charles snickering beside him.</p><p>There was a woman dressed in black over by a dresser, and she turned to look at them with sharp, bright blue eyes. She had long dark hair which made her look even paler.</p><p>“No, just him,” Max said, almost giving Alex a push forward. He hated this. He wasn’t <em>that</em> much younger but Max still treated him like a kid sometimes.</p><p>“Then the two of you can wait outside,” the woman said, gliding silently over to a table set up in the middle of the room. It was lit by a single white candle and had an orange tablecloth with black embroidery on, the threads glittering as the flame of the candle moved.</p><p>“Oh come on,” Max protested, “I’m paying.”</p><p>“It’s okay,” Alex tried, not wanting this woman to end up in an argument. Max looked like he would like nothing more.</p><p>“Alright,” he finally said, pressing the bills into Alex’s hand. “But you’d better tell me everything later!”</p><p>He and Charles left, snickering and talking about what an act this all was.</p><p>“Sorry about that,” Alex said.</p><p>“Not a problem,” the lady said, sitting down on the other side of her table. “My name is Minttu, what’s yours?”</p><p>“Alex,” Alex said. “I... didn’t want to go in here.”</p><p>“Oh?” Her eyebrows shot up, but she was smiling. “And why not?”</p><p>“I don’t really believe in this stuff,” he shot her an apologetic smile, “and... but they thought I was scared.”</p><p>“I see,” she said. “Well, it’s nice to get a break from people like that sometimes, isn’t it?”</p><p>Alex shrugged, a little unsure of what to think.</p><p>“And while we’re here...” Minttu said, reaching for a bag Alex hadn’t noticed on the table. “How about we check what the runes have to say?”</p><p>“Ehm, I guess,” Alex hesitated.</p><p>“Tell you what,” she said, shaking the bag a little. It sounded like it was full of rocks. “Rather than doing a regular reading, how about we focus on what you should be doing in the nearest future?”</p><p>“I, eh... I guess?” Alex repeated. Minttu smiled at him, and held out the bag.</p><p>“Take one.”</p><p>Alex took off his glove and reached inside the bag. The stones were mostly smooth and kind of cold against his fingertips, and he took one that wasn’t on the very top, but a little further down inside. When he pulled it out he saw that it was a dark green, slightly marbled stone.</p><p>“Right here,” she instructed, pointing to an embroidered star on her tablecloth. He put it down. There was no symbol on it.</p><p>“Turn it over, please,” she said, with a tone that hinted that she was being very patient.</p><p>“Oh, sorry,” Alex said, turning it over.</p><p>It was a straight, vertical line with two diagonal lines going down from it. They looked like they had been engraved and then filled with a glittery gold paint.</p><p>“This is the overview,” Minttu said. “Take another.”</p><p>He reached inside the bag and took another rune, putting it where she pointed to. This one had another straight vertical line but looked more like an F, where both sideways lines had been downturned slightly.</p><p>“This is the challenge at hand. And now for the conclusion.”</p><p>She held out the bag again and Alex took out one more green pebble. This one had a symbol that reminded Alex of the mathematical symbol for less-than. It was a sideways V, opening to the right.</p><p>“And this is your course of action. Now then.”</p><p>Minttu leaned forward and put the bag of runes aside, looking at the three rocks before them. Their surfaces were so smooth they reflected the candle light, the gold glittering slightly.</p><p>“You’re feeling a bit down,” Minttu said, pointing to the first rune. “You’ve lost some self-esteem, something is making you feel like you have to try to hold on to yourself.”</p><p>Alex looked up slowly, but Minttu’s eyes were on the rune. Over the holiday he’d been trying to stay at school, but all the work wasn’t distraction enough anymore, especially not when paired with Max’s teasing. It had been a while since Alex had dated anyone, and he had to admit to feeling a bit lonely, but not being sure what he could possibly offer. Max was the one who went to parties and had girlfriends. Alex did his homework and worked weekends in a coffee shop.</p><p>He was boring.</p><p>“So the challenge at hand...” Minttu slid her finger along to the bent-F-looking rune and tapped at it, “is finding inspiration. And taking advice. Are you a little stubborn Alex?”</p><p>“No,” Alex said, realizing it sounded quite stubborn. From the way she was trying not to smile, Minttu thought so too.</p><p>“I mean I don’t...” Alex started.</p><p>“I was just joking,” Minttu said. “But maybe you need to get better at ignoring when people tell you negative things, and get better at receiving truths.”</p><p>“Right.”</p><p>“And the course of action for doing so is this.”</p><p>She pointed to the sideways V.</p><p>“Vision. Creativity. Creating more of what you actually want, than just,” she waved her hand like she was trying to find a word. “Just wandering around doing what you think you’re supposed to do.”</p><p>“But...” Alex started.</p><p>“You need sharper elbows,” Minttu said like it was the most obvious thing she’d ever seen in a reading. “Be open to those who are open, and sharper to those who are sharp.”</p><p>“I’m... not sure how,” Alex said, looking at the little stones.</p><p>“Of course you are,” Minttu said, standing up. She went over and put her hand on his shoulder, giving it a little squeeze. “You’ve met sharpness your whole life. Give some of that back.”</p><p>Something about the way she said it made it sound so easy. Alex had been expecting... well, nothing, if he was completely honest, and rather than the house-of-horrors scary fortune telling he’d been dreading, she had actually given him some pretty solid advice.</p><p>“Thank you,” he said, honestly. He got up too, and remembered he was still holding Max’s money in his hand. “How much..?”</p><p>“Don’t worry about it,” she smiled. “It’s bound to piss him off.”</p><p>Alex laughed, and was still snickering when he got out of the tent. His eyes stung with the bright, sudden light; it had been so dark inside he’d forgotten it was sunny out. Someone called something from further away, and a man in a wool coat stopped just in front of him.</p><p>“Alex!” a voice called from somewhere, and he turned to see who had yelled. So did the young man next to him.</p><p> </p><p>--</p><p> </p><p>George pulled his jacket closer around himself as he walked along. The sun was out but he’d always had a problem with getting cold fast; he was very happy he’d brought his gloves, despite thinking it wouldn’t be so chilly out. The Harvest fair had led to his usual bus line in to town being re-routed and meant a brisk, five-minute walk up to where the first signs of the fair could be seen in the shape of a merry-go-round and a few booths offering games with Halloween-themed prizes.</p><p>As he got up to where the market street actually started, he slowed down and looked around. He wasn’t supposed to meet Lando for another 20 minutes, so he figured he could look around a bit and maybe buy some kind of candy for them to share.</p><p>Lando had seemed kind of down lately, and it bothered George. He knew there was a lot of course work, but there was something else on his boyfriend’s mind, and he was determined to find out what it was – after making sure they had a nice day at the fair. That’d make anyone happier.</p><p>He stopped at a stall where a lady was stirring almonds in what looked like a big wok, a gas flame hissing away underneath, gently roasting the nuts in sugar. He made a mental note to start here with Lando later. Some sugary treats would be a great start. Looking around from the almond-stall, he spotted a white tent and wandered closer to it.</p><p>The flap that served as a door was pulled aside, and George quickly read the sign announcing there was a tarot reader inside.</p><p>That might be fun.</p><p>He figured it couldn’t hurt to check it out first, then he and Lando could go together.</p><p>“Excuse me?” he said, looking inside the tent. “Are you open?”</p><p>“Oh, yes, definitely!” came a soft voice from inside. “Come on in.”</p><p>It was a bright space, pretty open and airy for being a tent, most of the area inside taken up by two chairs and a table.</p><p>“Hello, I’m Vivian.” The blonde woman, dressed in a white dress, came over and shook his hand.</p><p>“George,” he introduced himself. “I just wanted to see, you know, how it’s done.”</p><p>“You’ve never had a tarot reading before, I take it?” She was smiling pleasantly, and invited him to sit.</p><p>“No, but I’m curious.” It would do him no good to be openly skeptical, he figured. He took off his other glove and got comfortable.</p><p>“Well, since you’re in a hurry, I can do a short reading.”</p><p>George froze for a second, and then Vivian winked at him. She’d obviously noticed he was in a hurry from how he was acting, he thought. That was how this worked. He put his hands in his lap, being careful to hide his left hand, hoping she hadn’t yet seen that he wasn’t wearing any rings.</p><p>“So, how about we focus on the future? I’m thinking you already know who you are, so let’s maybe look at what’s most important in the now, and what is coming up.”</p><p>“Sure.”</p><p>She picked up a green-backed deck of cards and looked at it curiously.</p><p>“Hm,” she said. She smiled, and started shuffling. Then she made a neat stack of the cards.</p><p>“Make three piles, and then put them back together, please.”</p><p>George followed her instructions. The back of the cards had a decorative coppery inlay which shone warm and red in the candlelight. When he’d returned the cards to their stack, she spread them out in front of him.</p><p>“Pick two, and put them here.”</p><p>She pointed to two rectangles, embroidered into the table cloth. George took two cards that were right next to each other. It wasn’t like it mattered. As soon as he’d put the cards down, she turned the left one over.</p><p>George stared at the picture, eyebrows raised. All he knew of tarot said it was supposed to be dark and mysterious.</p><p>This was a squirrel.</p><p>This was a squirrel, dressed in a nice vest and a huge, richly red cape. There were six golden coins above his head, each with a little star on it, and before him stood two other squirrels, their heads bent down and their hands out. The one with the cape was giving them acorns from one of several sacks behind him.</p><p>“Oh, that’s nice,” Vivian said, smiling at the card and then giving George a fond look. “This is the six of Pentacles.”</p><p>“Oh,” George said, the information not really telling him anything. “Okay?”</p><p>“You’re a very generous soul. See how he shares everything fairly?” She pointed to the squirrel, and George noticed a small set of golden scales hanging from the squirrel’s hand. “He can afford to be generous, and he is well liked.”</p><p>She narrowed her eyes and looked at George more closely.</p><p>“It doesn’t have to mean money,” she said, surprising him into snapping his mouth shut. He’d been about to argue that he wasn’t very rich at all, just a student.</p><p>“It can mean that you give other things. Time, trust, security. You’re willing and able to give a lot, provided you’re asked, and asked for a fair share.”</p><p>George nodded mutely. Vivian turned over the second card.</p><p>“This is what’s soon-to-be,” she said, tapping the card thoughtfully.</p><p>It was two squirrels, facing each other. Their bushy tails were up and curled, and they looked happy. Each was drinking from a gold goblet, and their arms were interlinked at the elbows, making them stand very close together.</p><p>“They’re coming together,” Vivian said, sitting back a little in her chair. “Joining forces and becoming stronger together.”</p><p>George blinked at the card. Only the weekend before, he and Lando had been joking around before heading out, locking arms at the elbows and drinking their beers, trying not to spill everything and trying not to spray beer everywhere with their laughing. It had been a good time. They’d been in George’s apartment, where Lando always seemed so comfortable, but when George had asked Lando to move in he’d said no, not wanting to impose, not...</p><p>A loud beeping threw George out of his thoughts. The alarm on his cellphone was going off; he was supposed to meet Lando now.</p><p>“I have to go,” he said, standing up quickly.</p><p>“Of course,” Vivian said, calmly standing too. George was already almost out the door when he realized he hadn’t paid. He’d have to come back and take care of it later.</p><p> </p><p>--</p><p> </p><p>“... but I could really use another set of hands with all the...” Seb wrinkled his nose, “social media-things.” He saw Kimi eyeing a tent just a few steps away. Damn it.</p><p>Since the events of the year before, Kimi had been quite hesitant to even go to the Harvest fair. While he agreed the fortune tellers had a hand in he and Seb getting together at all, something about it seemed to bother him greatly.</p><p>“You don’t have to go inside, Kimi, I just said it was interesting.”</p><p>“Hrm,” Kimi grunted, more interested in his candy apple than Seb’s work-talk, or his ongoing tries at getting him into the fortune teller’s tent again. They had walked past the black tent earlier and Kimi had given the entrance a <em>lot</em> of space, like he was afraid of being pulled inside.</p><p>“Jenson said they’re really very nice,” Seb continued. The fact that his old friend was dating the brother of a psychic was funny and intriguing to him. Kimi did not agree.</p><p>“Jenson thinks everybody is very nice,” Kimi grumbled. “Do you want warm cider?” He had noticed a sign on a white tent nearby, and spotted a way out in the shape of a stall serving cider not too far away.</p><p>“Yes please,” Seb said, shaking his head as Kimi actually sped up to get to the stall. He <em>really</em> didn’t like the fortune tellers.</p><p>A young man came out of the white tent, looking quite frazzled.</p><p>“George?” Seb exclaimed. George turned very fast, his eyes getting big at the sight of his boss having randomly appeared before him.</p><p>“Sebastian,” he said, giving him a nod that almost turned into a small bow. “You haven’t seen...” He stopped. Sebastian hadn’t met Lando, and didn’t know what he looked like.</p><p>“George!”</p><p>George spun around again, starting to feel dizzy from the sudden stress and all this turning. Lando was approaching from the other direction, looking a little red in the cheeks, like the cold was just a bit much, or like he’d been hurrying.</p><p>Lando came in for a hug and George pulled him close, thankful. Sometimes Lando didn’t like being touchy in public, but apparently today was the right day for it.</p><p>“Hey,” he said into Lando’s beanie. He heard Lando mumble something in response into his chest. When they parted, Lando’s cheeks were still red, but he was smiling broadly.</p><p>“Oh yeah,” George said, remembering Seb was right behind him, “this is my boss, Seb. Eh, Sebastian. Mr. Vettel.”</p><p>“Seb is fine,” Sebastian laughed, holding his hand out to Lando, who shook it quickly and probably much too loosely.</p><p>“I want to talk about moving in again,” Lando blurted out as soon as Seb had let go of his hand so he could turn his full attention to George again.</p><p>“I wanted to ask you to move in with me,” George said at the same time, remembering why he’d been in such a hurry just now. Both boys ended up staring at each other, like neither could believe the other had spoken.</p><p>“You forgot your gloves,” a female voice chimed in from behind Seb. “Oh,” she added when Seb turned. “It’s you.”</p><p>“Vivian,” Seb nodded at her.</p><p>“How is the expansion going?” she asked, smiling brightly.</p><p>Sebastian blinked, and because they were standing so close together, George could feel Lando stifling his laughter at Seb’s expression.</p><p>“It’s... great?” he finally said, and she nodded. “George works with me,” he added, as if mentioning someone else would get him out of the line of any other information Vivian might have up her long, white sleeves. Instead she just smiled, and handed George a pair of nice leather gloves.</p><p>“Oh and <em>there</em> you are,” she said, putting her hands together. Kimi stopped in his tracks, his eyes narrowing. It said something that both his hands were occupied with paper cups of steaming cider, and not a drop spilled.</p><p>“Don’t magic me,” Kimi said in a low voice, passing the two boys to get to Sebastian and hand over his cider. “I do not need the...” he fluttered his fingers to indicate magic. Vivian beamed.</p><p>“Kimi,” she said sweetly. “It’s not <em>my</em> doing, it’s just the fates. And I wasn’t going to <em>magic you</em>, I was just going to say you should... sit and think. Meditate a bit. It’s good for you.”</p><p>George and Lando just stared at her, Sebastian looked confused.</p><p>“And there <em>he</em> is,” Vivian said, pointing across the lane to the other side of the market street. “Right before the parade, too.” She waved to someone, and they all turned to look. Everyone except Kimi, who was still keeping an eye on her.</p><p>“Oh, it’s Jenson,” Sebastian said. “Jenson!” he called. A man across the street in a grey wool coat turned to look, and then lit up and waved.</p><p>“Isn’t that Alex?” George asked, squinting. He was pretty sure he’d just seen their mutual school friend.</p><p>“Yeah, it is,” Lando said. “Alex!” he yelled. The tan young man across the street turned, but so did the paler, dark-haired young man next to him.</p><p>Then the first part of the parade reached their part of the street, and beyond the dancers, balloons, the band, and people with crowns and leaves in their hair throwing candy to the crowds, it was hard to see anyone at all.</p><p> </p><p>--</p><p> </p><p>Alex was still kind of reeling from having his fortune told. Fake or not, it had hit very close to home, and he felt strangely lost. He had to stop quickly to avoid walking into the back of a man in a gray coat who stopped right in front of him, and he was ready to give his excuses when he thought he heard someone calling his name.</p><p>The guy next to him and stopped and looked up too, and the movement drew Alex’s eye. They were about the same height, and at about the same level of bundled-up: he could see dark hair peeking out from under the guy’s knitted hat, and he was wearing a thick jacket. Above the big scarf around his neck, his nose and cheeks were reddened by the cold air. For some reason, Alex felt like smiling.</p><p>“Are you Alex?” the guy asked.</p><p>“Yeah,” Alex said. The guy had an accent, and when the corners of his mouth rose a bit in an incredulous smile, Alex suddenly felt that much warmer. The parade had started to walk by next to them and he could barely hear the music or the commotion of kids wanting candy and people dancing and waving leaves.</p><p>“I’m Alex too,” the guy said. He pulled his gloved hand out of his jacket pocket and held it out. “Alex Marquez.”</p><p>“Oh. Oh!” Alex started laughing, before cottoning on and shaking the guy’s hand. “That’s funny. I’m Albon. Alex, I mean, Albon is my...”</p><p>“I get it,” the guy said, giving his hand another squeeze. Alex found himself not quite wanting to let go of his hand. When they finally did release each other, his hand felt strangely cold.</p><p>The guy – Alex, Alex corrected himself – looked down at the ground for a second, and then up again. He had brown eyes, big and round, and it gave him the look of some kind of animal, slightly startled but very cute.</p><p>They kind of reminded Alex of Bambi.</p><p>“Aha,” someone said behind them, and Alex realized the fortune teller had come out of her tent to look at the parade too. She wasn’t looking at him though; she was looking at the man in the gray coat.</p><p>“Minttu,” he said, smiling and inclining his head. “Doing good business?”</p><p>“I always do good business, Jenson, you know that.” she said. “Go on, take one.”</p><p>She held out the bag of runes that she had hung around her wrist. Jenson laughed.</p><p>“No thanks, I’m good.”</p><p>“Fine, I’ll take one for you.”</p><p>She smiled and stuck her hand inside the bag, pulling out a stone and showing it to him without looking for herself.</p><p>“Typical,” she laughed, shaking her head. “The most <em>you</em> rune there is.”</p><p>In spite of himself, Alex looked at the little stone between her fingers. It was one of the green ones he’d been picking from, and it had what looked like a lower-case N, but with straighter lines.</p><p>“Alright, so what does that mean then?” Jenson asked, still smiling.</p><p>“Take a guess,” Minttu said, nodding to something out in the street. “Hi Nico.”</p><p>Jenson’s smile grew, and he quickly moved in to greet someone with a brief kiss. Alex only just heard him speak over the sound of the parade.</p><p>“You look gorgeous, sweetheart.”</p><p>There was a blond man standing right by them. He was obviously part of the parade, wearing a tight, dark brown shirt but very loose-fitting pants with a shiny pattern of silvery and green rhomboids. There was a crown made of twigs and leaves on his head, and he had antlers coming out of his hair. A bell dangled from one of his antlers and jangled merrily as he moved.</p><p>“For you,” he said, bowing as low as he probably could with his antlers and crown still in place, holding out his hands to the Alexes. Then he winked at the man in the coat, blew him a kiss, and started skipping back into the parade. Now and then he reached in to a small bag at his hip and got more candy out to hand to people.</p><p>Alex looked down. The blond man had given him a candy apple. He looked at the other Alex, who was holding an apple too. They both started snickering.</p><p>“Never get it wrong, do you?” the man in the gray coat said to Minttu. Past him, further down the row of stalls, Alex spotted Max.</p><p>His brother hadn’t seen him yet. He suddenly got a crazy idea.</p><p>“Want to go get a cider?” he quickly asked the other Alex. To his delight, his Bambi-eyes lit up.</p><p>“Sure,” he said, nodding eagerly. “I’d love to.”</p><p>“It’s not me,” Minttu said, looking on with a smile as the two boys hurried away in the other direction. “It’s just the fates.”</p><p>“And you <em>never</em> help, and neither does Vivian, of course,” Jenson added, looking out at the parade again where Nico was dancing further away. When the parade was done, he’d go over to where he’d seen Seb and Kimi; they were all going to dinner, and he suspected Minttu already knew this. Nico had made <em>sure</em> his tarot-telling sister and her rune-reading girlfriend had other plans for the night.</p><p>“Hardly ever, actually,” Minttu said innocently. “Almost never at all.”</p><p> </p><p>- The End -</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>All in good fun, as per usual! :)<br/>Thank you very much for the read! &lt;3</p></blockquote></div></div>
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